How much do Kiwi's spend on restaurants and ready to eat food? Video / NZME
A man has sparked a huge debate online after he uploaded a photo of his $40 Thai takeaway dinner.
The Brisbane local took to Reddit to ask users whether the cost of his order which included garlic prawns Tom Yum soup and seafood salad, was "ridiculous".
"Forty dollarsworth of takeaway. Is this ridiculous?," he captioned the post from Saturday.
Many users agreed that he was overcharged, claiming the size of the meal didn't warrant the cost.
"It is and I'm also not shocked," one person commented.
"I'm getting real sick and tired of people who have no idea about food costs claiming $40 for something like the above is remotely okay, it's absolutely not, "another wrote.
"Yep. 100 per cent ridiculous. We started cooking again during Covid. Ordered take out twice since," a third said.
"Why would you pay $40 for that?" one person asked.
Man sparks online debate after asking whether he was overcharged for his Thai takeaway meal. Photo / AresCrypto, Reddit
However, not all agreed, with many defending the Brisbane Thai restaurant and struggling hospitality businesses as a result of the pandemic.
"Restaurants trying to survive. My new local pizza place had to put up the price of pizzas because they are barely surviving. Most are doing it tough and many won't survive long-term unfortunately," one user pointed out.
"We can get angry … but most restaurants are actually struggling," argued another.
One person explained that "delivery" and "takeaway" is "not the same thing".
"Plus, I bet this is from the inner burbs. In my experience you get more for your local fast food dollar 30+ kms from the CBD," the person continued.
"Probably not the takeaway joints fault. Everyone moved over to uber eats and they're taking -30 per cent. So it's no surprise they've had to jack up their prices," said another.
Almost a million Australians lost their jobs since social-distancing measures were enforced as a result of the pandemic.
Nearly half of the country's young hospitality workers also lost their jobs, with the food and accommodation sector being hit the hardest.
The man's post comes after a chef also took to Reddit revealing the wasted food he was left with after a customer placed a huge $300 UberEats order – and then cancelled it.
Luckily, the restaurant worker wasn't out of pocket, with the chef later revealing that they were "compensated for the charge".
But he was still furious with the situation, saying: "Imagine making almost $300 worth of food and then riiiiight when you finish the order, the customer cancels on you and you have $300 of food that's just gone to waste."
